Noddy, that is classic "look, a bear" stuff. All clubs have young players and old players. All our first year players last year showed they had the skills to compete in the bigs. They have had that coached out of them, remember Banfield last year? a beacon of hope, along with Brayshaw, Crowden et al. It is not the player gap, we recruited Lobb, Cammac, B Hill, Colyer, Conca, Matera etc to cover that gap, and they are (with the exception of Hill) not the players we recruited, and before you get into me on Lobb, I include him because we recruited him to fill a gap left since Pav retired, and he has been used anywhere but as key forward.
DBTS
At the same time I can’t help but be angry at the playing group. I see way to many players show zero care about where the footy goes when they get rid of it. For crying out loud, I don’t need an expert AFL coach to know, I should at least look for a jumper the same colour as mine before I dump the ball in an area.
As much as some people seem to believe Lyon, despite apparently having no ability to be flexible on his game plan, then instructs his team to play another way after quarter time last week.
Last point first, Lyon does change his game plan after quarter time if we establish a lead, sure, it changes to defend that lead at all costs, even the cost of scoring ourselves. Every time. Remember the games which excited us as evidence of change? They were the games that the players took on because we were behind on the scoreboard at quarter/half/three quarter time.
As for the players not caring where the ball goes, the game plan says, "get the ball forward to the next stoppage", it does not say "get the ball forward to a teammate" That is why it is easy to pick apart, and that is why it does not require skills training, require team acts, require leading patterns, or any other of the important facets of successful, winning footy.
